Sally Easton MW

In London earlier this month, Olivier Humbrecht, of Alsatian Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, discussed minerality in wine. His presentation was part of a tasting of biodynamic wines from members of Biodyvin Syndicat International des Vignerons en Culture Biodynamique), the organisation of which Humbrecht is president, though his discussion was not uniquely about minerality in biodynamic wines.

The Douro is one of the oldest vineyards in the world, and it also ranks amongst the hottest, making it a challenging viticultural landscape. Yet the region makes some of the finest still and fortified wines known to man. When all the buzz is about cool climate, why is it cool to be hot in the Douro?

The first egg vat was commissioned in 2001 by Michel Chapoutier, following discussions and design between Chapoutier and French vat manufacturer Marc Nomblot, whose company has been making concrete wine vats since 1922. The shapely historic connection to Roman amphorae was not coincidental in the design.

Forget closure OTR (oxygen transmission rate) for the moment. In closing up a wine bottle, TPO (total package oxygen) is where the TLAs (three letter acronyms) are at, and the bottling operation is the bigger oxygen issue by far.

As it becomes more recognised that water is the new gold, stewardship programmes for water management are being created to develop systems of sustainable river basin management, considering issues such as water risk, availability, quantity, quality, and fair-share usage.

No-one seriously disputes that Tasmania is properly cool climate, but a slightly more confusing picture is emerging on the mainland. And with ‘cool climate’ wines being cool, trendy and of different flavour profile than ‘warm climate’, it’s too easy to let the moniker roll off the tongue without paying due regard to proper climatic data.